Samuel_Tow

Well... There's a reason I never even considered touching Controllers, Defenders and Tankers, and this pretty much is it See, when I look at something like a Blaster that kind of CAN solo with the best of them, eh... I can kind of see pushing for more soloability. When I look at a Defender, though? Nah, I'd just be preaching to the choir. That's not what Defenders are made to do. Blasters, though... I still don't feel they should be as team-centric an AT as people try to paint them.

Thing is, I really don't see damage auras as being very useful with a team, too. I mean, I team occasionally, and every time someone turns on an aura of any kind, it's hell and high water trying to keep everyone and their grandma from dropping what they're doing and trying to kill that one person. I agree, it could be team inefficiencies, but when I do team, it tends to be a grab bag of characters. Three Blasters? Sure, why not? Scrapper and two Tankers? Bring it! Six Scrappers and a Bubble Defender? Best teaming I've ever had!

Basically, damage auras are an aggro magnet. That was kind of what my "team-dismissing argument" was aimed at. Someone mentioned how you could do all that stuff on a team if you didn't draw too much aggro, and I would agree... Except damage auras draw too much aggro. Or do when I've seen them used, anyway.

And you know what? It wouldn't bug me as much if their set-up were somehow different to make their damage more frontloaded, so that I could apply a good chunk of damage for relatively brief excursions into melee, but that wouldn't stack for even better damage if I stayed. I wonder if a toggle with a two-second tick can apply a 10-second DoT that gets overriden with each next tick? That way, enemies would take damage as normal when they're in the aura, but would also take some damage afterwards, as well, possibly filling in the gaps of time when I'm not nearby.

Despite myself, I'd actually like to see damage auras done so that I can use them without removing use from them as they already have it.

Good thing I scrapped my initial reaction post and re-wrote it entirely I appreciate the sentiment, Claws. Thanks.

Yes, it is. What the developers say goes, even if they contradict each other, the game or what have you. The last stance on any matter given is canon. It doesn't have to be GOOD canon, but it is canon if they said it. It's their game.

Good. Now you know how I feel.

Then let me contradict you. What a developer says very much IS canon unless stated otherwise by another developer. It's their game, they make the rules.

For instance, Manticore went out of his way to set down canon explanations that weren't in the game, yet those count as canon, too.

Or, for that matter, Paragon Times articles, which are not part of the game, have not been put in the game, yet that doesn't seem to stop you from treating them like canon, even when they contradict in-game infomation.

Well, like the Hamidon, Lughebu is mostly referenced by the Banished Pantheon zombies, themselves in a zombie chanting fashion. He's never been in the limelight, however, not like the Hamidon.

That said, I looked through the three arcs you mentioned and I can't seem to find any reference to an alliance of Tielekku and Hequat against Ermeeth, or indeed of Tielekku opposing Ermeeth at all. All the clues say "Hequat was also his greatest enemy." and seem to imply that it's because Ermeeth is enlightening people and Hequat is a jerk who wants to force people into divine servitude.

What's more, I can't seem to find ANY references to either Lughebu or the Banished Pantheon in general in any of these arcs. Maros does have an unrelated mission to steal the Scroll of Tielekku from the Banished Pantheon, but he gives no exposition it it, because we're not supposed to know what it's all about.

I didn't read Azuria's article in the Paragon Times for the simple reason that I HATE the Paragon Times, so I don't really know what she says about the Pantheon there, but I can't find that reference anywhere in the actual game.

Wait... "Those three" being the three arcs you mentioned? But they don't talk about Lughebu at all. They deal with the Oranbegans and possibly Hequat. Are you saying that the information on Lughebu and Ermeeth is in them? Huh...

I'm sorry, but everything that developers put in the game IS canon, even if it contradicts older stuff and makes no sense. It's not very GOOD canon, but its canon all the same.

OK. What other AT can I play that has access to Blast sets at a 1.125 damage mod? Seriously. If there were one, I'd play that, instead. Unfortunately, the only other ATs that have Blast sets are support ATs with plenty of powers that are worthless solo. And with much fewer hit points, to boot.

I have no problem with Blasters not being able to hang out in melee all the time (aside from people browbeating me that I suck because ONLY mine can't). I can deal with it, it's AT design. What I have a problem with is powers that are designed with the assumption that you WILL spend most of your time in melee, or simply not get much use out of them.

Probably. Between Smoke Grenade and Cloaking Device, you can place the bomb without being so much as hassled. If you watch the red light, you can time your follow-up blast to land just as it's exploding. It's really quite pretty. Kind of rare, though, as Time Bomb has such a long recharge.

What build are you using to do this?

Two points:

First of all, what I meant to say was "no melee attacks BESIDES damage auras," as the point was to explain how they were errant. And aren't damage auras actually something like the third power choice anyway?

Also, no. You can't count non-melee-range PBAoEs as melee. They're not melee attacks. If they were, then Nova, Inferno and Psychic Wail would count as melee attacks, and they're not.

Didn't I count Shocking Grasp as an attack?

Again, two points:

First, my argument was that all powers other than damage auras can be used without having to stay in melee. Would you disagree with that?

Secondly, all the people I've seen who say they "blap" and "stay in melee" have always ended up having a trick to pulling it off, such as Inventions, outside buffs, temporary powers, specific enemies or... Well, not actually staying in melee is described. I'd first like to actually SEE a person scrapping with a Blaster as described so I can make sure we're on the same page.

And believe me, I'd like to know what you're doing right that I'm doing wrong. I do. But every time people have told me about this, their advise has simply not worked. Like the person who told me to use Hot Feet and enemies would never melee me... Only for enemies to pretty much ignore the Hot Feet, run in and punch my face anyway. It was sold to me like this kind of "no go area" when it is, in fact, nothing of the sort.

I'm bringing it as an example of a power that's PBAoE but is not melee. Quite obviously not melee. Instead of insulting your intelligence like you insist on insulting mine, let me pose the question - how do you define "melee powers?" And I'll pre-empt your answer with my definition as I see it - powers which have a range of 7 feet. Do you disagree with that?

"In the middle of a mob" is not the same thing as "in melee range." If a power has a range of 15 feet around me, but enemies have a melee range of only 7 feet, then I can still use it, still catch everyone and STILL be outside of melee range. Can't really do that with damage auras.

Again, that was a mistype on my part, which I explained in a previous post it looks like you didn't read. I typed that, checked the facts, found out I was wrong, fixed it... And apparently missed one place where I said it. It's an error which I admitted to.

Again, you're not reading what I actually wrote. I don't NEED to use Ice Patch at the feet of my enemies, because it does not need enemy proximity to function. I CAN spawn it around a corner and pull enemies into it. Do you disagree with that? Because the ability to do so was the point.

Again, do you HAVE to use them like that? Are you FORCED to use them like that? Can you use them any other way? Because I assure you - you can. Ignoring the fact that I don't know what I'd have to play to even be able to chain Havoc Punch, Ice Sword, Mind Probe and Fire Sword, the fact remains that you don't have to use them like that if you don't want to. If I chose to not stay in melee much, I could easily do so by dashing into melee only for as long as the attack takes to fire and I get full use out of it. This is not true for damage auras.

That's assuming you waste time running in and out, which is not the case. Technically, you may waste something like .4 of a second both ways, but I'm not talking about staying 150 feet back and sniping. I'm talking about staying out of melee range, which is defined as 7 feet. So what I'm talking about is staying 10-15 feet back. In fact, you can shorten that even father because ranges are given horizontally, but they scale back the more vertical you go. That's why the Dispersion Bubble is saucer-shaped, rather than sphere-shaped. So if you use Hover, you can afford to be even closer while still out of range of claw and punch.

What my posts imply is that Blasters can use ranged attacks at ranged, so they don't have to use them in melee, and they can use melee attacks while staying out of melee "mostly." This is possible for everything EXCEPT damage auras.

Again, show me. I've heard tales of scrapping Blasters before and there's always a trick to them. Like stage magic, it sounds real impressive, but there's always a trick. And it's usually some trick that only works for the person using it. If you can show me your trick and I can use it, I'll convert to your way of doing things, because I actually WANT to play like you say you do.

Yeah, I never said damage auras themselves don't do a lot. They do. I said you need to spend a lot of time in melee to get that benefit. If you can, I'd be amazed. But on the other hand, if you can and you can teach me, I'd be willing to learn.

So you say. That doesn't stop enemies from attacking me just fine with both Hot Feet AND Burn going at my feet. Sure, they run for a bit... Then they turn around, come back in and hit me in the face. And besides, isn't that kind of contradictory to your modus operandi of staying in melee all the time? Just sayin'. When I play something designed to always stay in melee, like a Brute, powers that cause enemies to scatter piss me off like you wouldn't believe.

Fine... If you're going to be reducing everything to the trite argument of "it's not a Blaster secondary" even though that's immaterial to the comparison, let's simplify things - Stun does damage. Would you class that as an attack? Would you use that for damage? Would you slot that for damage? Because I wouldn't.

Please quote me where I said I only play a Fire Blaster. Be sure to include a link to the post you quoted.

Uh, no I didn't. But, hey. Feel free to quote where I said Shocking Grasp is a stupid power. And again, be sure to include a link to the post you took it from.

Again... You can't be reading my posts if you're saying this. I disregard only ONE set of powers - damage auras. Nowhere did I say I disregard mitigation as a whole, and if you really feel I did, quote me on it.

So you say, but that's not how it works. I'll admit I didn't try it with Hot Feet and Burn, but I've tried it with Caltrops and Ignite, which actually ought to work better. Caltrops floors enemy speed pretty easy and I can place Ignite at an enemy's centre, rather than sort of nearby. Doesn't do much of anything. Even under those circumstances, enemies still run away from the Burn patch almost immediately. Even at floor speed, they're still fast enough to cover four feet before they take much damage.

And, no, I'm not making this up here. I tried doing that, and I have up because it doesn't work. Much easier to just immobilize a single enemy. Of course, at that point the hassle becomes not really worth it.

You keep talking about Hot Feet, the one power Blasters get at what looks like full Strength. Why not talk about Ice Patch? Or the fact that Blaster control mods are nowhere near those of Controllers? Please, don't try to sell Blasters as Controllers because they share a few powers. By the same logic, you could sell them as Brutes because they have Energy Punch and Total Focus.

Actually, it must be because it sucks. And, yes, I'm speaking from experience. Fiery Aura is a gimmick set like Dark Armour, with its immobilization protection inexplicably shifted over to Burn as Dark Armour's is to Cloak of Darkness. The power's only use as mitigation is to hold your immobilize protection hostage. Its value as an attack is also highly questionable, partly because you can't slot it for accuracy, and partly because it's just not very good. It was good back in the old days of Fire/Fire Tanker farming, but the developers fixed that a LONG time ago. Right now, its use is that of a gimmick.

I will admit one thing, though - it looks cool to break an imobilization with it. I can't help but think that this kind of status protection would have been much cooler than just never being affected by anything, which is boring.

That I did not know. However, I checked, and you're right. That's quite capable of changing my mind on THAT ONE PARTICULAR POWER.

Yeah, that's the same kind of rhetoric that was given as an excuse for why Dual Pistols had such piss-poor balance in Beta. "But they have secondary effects!" Fat lot of good that does. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Blaster debuffs outside of Ice powers have never been a big deal.

Wait, what? Are you seriously counting the confuse in World of Confusion and the 25% chance to stun in Psychic Shockwave? Seriously? World of Confusion has a 1.5 second confuse duration to a 4 second tick (so not even 50% uptime) that additionally has to hit on each tick AND at 25% less base to-hit. I'm not quite sure what that comes to, but it's a low chance to hit for a crappy effect that's only there on paper. And you know what? I've seen World of Confusion used. A lot. Whenever it actually confuses someone, which is rare, the effect fades before that someone has a chance to do anything, so it's basically worthless. And, honestly, you can't count a 25% chance to inflict a stun, ESPECIALLY not a 2 second mag 2 (minions only) stun. You can't honestly expect any of that to make a reliable difference.

If you feel like it, it would be an interesting read. I'm not sure what it would accomplish in this thread, but - and I'm being perfectly honest here - if you wanted to start a new thread cataloguing those, I'd definitely read it. This sort of thing is interesting to me.

I don't recall saying "3 seconds" anywhere, and I went to look at the quote. Still didn't find it. Even if I did, three seconds is an exaggeration, yes, but the point was that plenty of Blasters can wipe out large spawns with AoEs before the spawns have time to get out more than their alpha. Fire Blast is the obvious contender, with Aim + Build Up + Fireball + Fire Breath, and yes, that was about the only way I was able to consistently beat Siege's minions. Rad Blast is also a contender, with its three AoEs, and I've done that A LOT with Ice/Ice via Aim + Build Up + Shiver + Frost Breath + Ice Rain. I assume I'll be able to swap Shiver for Ice Storm for a hopefully faster activation.

My AR/Dev Blaster used to do that a lot via toe Time Bomb + Full Auto, Long Range Missile + Full Auto or just basically Flamethrower + Full Auto + whatever is left. By the way, I finally spotted where I said "three seconds," and I will agree with you - I exaggerated. But the point remains - I can blindside my enemies and kill them in a couple of attacks from range outside of their most dangerous retaliation, whereas in melee... That's just not the case.

Actually, you couldn't be more wrong. AoE-ing a full spawn within two or three attacks is by FAR the safest way to handle enemies, and to be honest, it's not a cheat. Plenty of Blasters can do just that without resorting to nukes. Also, when did I say I'm not using mitigation? Could you possibly quote me on that?

Wait, what? What kind of a two-dimensional idiot do you take me for that I'd use Fire Sword Circle out of range, not hit anyone and go "THIS POWER SUCKS?" Seriously, did you honestly just suggest I would do that? Seriously?

All I said was that, by the time I get Fire Sword Circle AND Combustion out, I'm already pretty much dead, and there's no way I'd down a full spawn with just that. Trust me, I've tried.

What's funny is you keep putting words in my mouth and insulting my intelligence while failing to read what I've written. In other words, how's that straw man hunt coming along? Swimmingly, I assume?

You keep saying that, but... Where did I actually say any of that? I counted Shocking Grasp as an attack and never questioned its utility as control, I don't recall ever complaining about Chilling Embrace (as it's not a DAMAGE aura and doesn't require you to STAY in melee range as its effect doesn't build up) and while I might have dised Hot Feet's utility as a DAMAGE aura, I don't recall disregarding its utility as mitigation. It's not as good as you make it out to be, but it's not THAT bad. As for most of all... Yeah, check your browser. I think it's showing you someone else's post, because you keep reacting to things I never said.

Show, don't tell. People have been telling me that for years and it has always failed when it came down to the details. Again, I'd LIKE to be able to do that, but I just don't see it. If it were possible and I'm doing something wrong, then GREAT. I can fix it and I can survive like the mythical blasting Tankers you keep talking about. Everything I've been told to do to fix it in the past has failed, however.

By the way - Blasters were designed to be glass cannons. If you're trying to suggest that they're as durable as something like Scrappers or Stalkers in melee, that sounds like it'd be broken. And, really, that's kind of what I get from "survive perfectly fine in melee," since that's one of the things we keep being told Blasters shouldn't be able to do.

Wait, what? Ball Lightning + Thunder Strike kills everything? How does that even work? Thunder Strike's AoE damage component is barely 20 points. Plus Ball Lightning at around 63, are you counting on Lightning Field to do all that damage? Even with Aim and Build Up and slotting, that's pretty ambitious

Which drop with a frequency of one in never.
Which... Has nothing to do with the point I was actually making. The point was that Blasters don't have the kind of mitigation needed to stand toe-to-toe with enemies, and they don't get the kind of mitigation needed for it from their secondaries. You can stun-lock one mezzer. Just yesterday I fought a spawn that for some weird reason spawned THREE Malta TacOps. I don't know if it's bugged, but there you go.

Look, if you're gonna' keep repeating myself, then so will I - show, don't tell.

So... Basically your solution to dealing with mez-heavy enemy groups is "don't fight mez-heavy enemy groups?" Am I reading this right? Because it sounds... Like a really bad solution in my mind. Amma go fight some Rogue Vanguar vs. Malta missions while I ponder this.

That's kind of what I'm saying. Eventually it keeps coming to this. "I've done it, but..." If you want to give it a try, try a SO (or Commons) only Blaster of any kind you want to pick and try that mission on that difficulty solo. Grab a few videos and post them on you-tube. I don't really care about the Praetorians, themselves. Overdosing on purples makes them plenty beatable. I care about their minions. Siege's and Dominatrix's in particular, but Shadow Swan's should be interesting. Do that, show (don't tell) and I'm prepared to concede I'm an idiot.

But please understand that I won't concede I'm an idiot just because you keep implying it.

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By the way, if you're interesting in replying, I'd advise against "quote tetris" in the future. It's far too cumbersome, so I'm not going to do it again, myself. I shouldn't have done it this time, either, but one of the few things that bugs me more than anything else is people putting words in my mouth.

My bad. I misread that.

Be nice if I could get them sooner.

I will admit that I didn't actually check that, on account of there being no really good numbers for the power that I can check thanks to how it's set up. However, I was going from experience, and Thunder Strike simply didn't feel like it was reliably knocking my enemies back when I used it. At all. Could be a case of "they nerfed accuracy" perception, but I actually think it has to do with its cast time. I tend to be REALLY apprehensive of using slow melee attacks on Blasters, on account of me dying mid-way a lot of the time.

It comes down to two things: One is that cones are scaled to 2.5 enemies, but AoEs are scaled to around 3.5, which means four. That, and Tenacious seemed to spawn a single +1 lieutenant almost half the time, and two +1 lieutenants most of the rest of the time. Or a single boss by himself. I played an AR/Dev Blaster that way, and it SUUUCKED! Never going back to that, even if it means dying a lot.

I will admit, though, that it DOES seem to result in rather a lot more damage. I retested an old Regen Blaster who was basically unkillable back in the day, and found that he was... Pretty squishy in this day and age. Regeneration is the kind of effect which scales down VERY sharply with increased damage, going from "barely hurt" to "might as well not be there" pretty quickly, so it's a sensitive test for increased damage. It does indeed seem to be the case.

On the other hand, I know what's causing it. Before, difficulty settings used to spawn "large spawns" at even level and "small spawns" at +1. The new difficulties no longer respect that, causing "large spawns" to spawn at +1 and "small spawns" to spawn at mission level, making the difficulty vary wildly. The mission in question was a 41 mission set at -1, so 40, but it was a Malta mission, and Malta can't spawn below 41. So the whole mission was more like +0x3, rather than -1x3.

In fact, you know what the funny part is? I complained about this. I asked for an option to force enemies to spawn at mission level, so if I picked -1 they'd all be -1. You know what people told me? "If you can't play at -1x3, then you suck. lrn2ply. I can solo +12x10." So, yeah... I was given the impression -1x3 was embarrassingly easy for ANYTHING.

On EBs, I agree. That's the time when you kind of need them, plus EBs are pretty rare. For toe-bombing, though... I'd say Time Bomb is better.

Well, if you say so. Going off what players have said, however, a lot feel completely the opposite - that Blaster secondaries are supposed to provide support mostly and only, and that Devices was the only true Blaster secondary. I've also heard plenty of people claim that the point of Blaster secondaries is to keep you away from melee range. And while Castle is probably right, you can't deny that we were pretty much told back in the old days that Blasters were supposed to stay out of melee range. Wasn't it Jack who talked about range as defence?

Mind you, Blasters today are MUCH better suited for melee, with almost Scrapper health, whereas they used to have Controller health.

If you can do that, it would be very helpful. I honestly have a hard time seeing how that would happen, but if it happens, then I can't deny it, can I?

Huh... That's a big read. I'll look over it when I get some spare time. However, I've done all thee of those arcs, and I don't remember there being contradiction between them and the Lughebu storyline, which I don't think is ever even mentioned outside the Banished Pantheon arcs.

If I remember correctly, Mu'Drakhan, though Akharist's writing, tells about the Mu uprising as instigated by Hequat and doesn't even mention Tielekku, Maros talks about the Coralax, whose only relation to the Mu seems to be that they lived on the island that Hequat pulled from the sea (and don't seem to be human, if Calystix the Shaper is anything to go on) and the Envoy of Shadows tells the story of the Oranbegans after the Mu Uprising... I think.

Like I said, I need to read through them.

Actually, the definition of "countable" within the context of sets is whether a set is discrete or continuous (provided I have my terminology correctly). As long as the set is comprised of clearly defined units with clear understanding of what would be "next," it's countable. That doesn't stop it from being infinite. In this regard, the infinite universes should be countable, because they're separate entities that don't flow into each other.

Furthermore, "infinity of infinities" is actually a very easy construct to make, both mathematically and logically. In mathematics, something as simple as two-dimensional space is an infinity of infinities, because you have one infinite linear space, each "point" of which corresponds to another unique infinite linear space. Hence, you have infinity made up of infinities.

Within the context of multiverse science, this could be explained in a number of ways, the easiest being dimension and time. If we assume time to be linear and infinite, then each universe in itself is comprised of one infinite timeline. However, we have an infinite number of universes in the multiverse, each defined by an infinite timeline, which gives us what is, for all intents and purposes, a two-dimensional space when it comes to any particular point of reality. If you have a snapshot of one moment in one universe, it's defined by WHEN it was taken and WHICH UNIVERSE it was taken from.

That's assuming the different universes share a synchronised time, of course.

So, you're saying that you've told people "That's an idiotic thing to say!" and they've had a sudden epiphany and understood their wrongness and embraced the truth of your position? I have a hard time imagining that, because "that's idiotic" is not an argument that's very epiphany-enduing. If anything, it's actually counter-productive because it has a higher chance of entrenching people in their position, even if that position may actually be wrong.

Then again, judging by your posts, tact is not one of your strong points.

Actually, I have to kind of disagree here. Different attacks have a different DPE - (points of) Damage Per (units of) Endurance - which depends on specific power balance and AT mods. Now, as a general rule of thumb, damage and endurance are on a fixed ratio... But that's not always the case. For instance, a regular Blaster attack deals around 12.031 DPE, but powers like Snap Shot and Aimed Shot deal rather more, at around 13-14, and Bitter Ice Blast for some reason deals rather a lot LESS, at around 10. In fact, I was just running numbers on Scrappers just yesterday and I realise something quite odd - Fire Blast from Blaze Mastery has a DPE of around 14.154, which is... Surprising, considering it's a ranged attack in a SCRAPPER Epic.

Also, AoE and Cone powers are actually more efficient endurance-wise, as you mentioned. Basically, you can grab their single-target DPE and multiply it by the number of targets you hit with them. AoEs are balanced at around 4 powers to break even with single-target attacks and cones at only 3. That's one of the reasons I prefer to play against more enemies of a lower level than fewer enemies of a higher level.

Basically, the way I build endurance-saving attack chains (if that were my goal) is to pick and emphasise high-DPE attacks, as that allows me to deal the same amount of damage more cheaply. That's why I would argue that Blaster Mastery immobilize powers shouldn't count as attacks, as their efficiency is HORRIBLE.

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More to point, when I said I had a static attack chain, I may have misspoken. My attack chains tend to be static, but... Indescribable That is to say, I know what I'm doing step to step, but I honestly couldn't tell you how many times I use which attack to the number of times I use another attack. I usually let power recharge, availability and situation guide my attacks, which is actually quite consistent, just... Not really something I've actually tried to describe, or something I'm sure I even could.

That's kind of where my conundrum comes from - I can't count the number of times I use an attack, hence why I can't just sum up its cost and go from there. I'm trying to use EPS and EPA to kind of suggest just that.

Has that ever worked?

The prompt is a compromise between the people who want (or don't mind the buff) and those who don't want it. It's a matter of giving choices.

The prompt is also status quo.

Basically, what I'm saying is that it seems much more common to have much weirder and much less regulated content in anime than it is in Western cartoons. Western cartoons very much CAN have weird and wonderful concepts, but outside of revolutionary shows or bid-budget productions (like the original Ben 10), you're highly unlikely to see that. You just end up seeing more crap like American Dragon and Camp Lazlo, which while somewhat weird, fall on the FAR side of good.

That's not to say anime is inherently good. In fact, from what I've seen, a very large portion of it is utter garbage. But the scope and breadth of concepts it presents still means a much better chance of finding something truly astounding, and that one real gem can mask the disappointment with much of the rest.

I actually use to say the same about Western television... Until I saw shows like Oban sidelined and basically dropped off the air because they were a French-Japanese collaboration (I assume) in favour of crap like A.T.O.M. which is not only insultingly stupid but barely actually has a plot. But it has people prancing around and throwing hadoukens in it...

Sometimes the Disney channel feels like it's sabotaging itself. Seriously, who watches Hanna Montana?

The really tough part is doing it without losing our faces and reducing ourselves to the Champions model of one single face.

I have an Electric/Electric Blaster, myself. That sleep doesn't do anything for him, simply because if I don't wake them up, the Voltaic Sentinel will. Besides, what can you do in two seconds that doesn't involve hitting your enemies? And what power is it that has reliable AoE sleep?

Mind you, I'm not dising sleep as an effect. It has questionable merit, but it has merit nonetheless. I used to swear by Sleep Gas Grenade from Munitions Mastery before I swapped it out for Surveillance. Buuut... Sleep Gas Grenade is a 30-second 100% mag3 sleep (or was last I checked). This IS mitigation, and a pretty serious form. That's enough to pick off quite a few enemies one by one. A two-second interruptible sleep? What does that get you?

You can't always help it. The higher levels have a lot of highly resistant enemies that just don't go down easily, from simple things like Crey Tanks and Hercules Titans to Rikti Chiefs, the various Praetorians (Dominatrix's minions have 50% resistance to frikkin' EVERYTHING) and, of course, the Soldiers of Rularuu. They can be beaten, certainly, but when you're facing a Crey spawn of, say, 6-7 (-1!!!) minion Cryo and Voltaic tanks and a good couple of (-1!!!) Power Tanks... That drags on. No two ways about it.

I guess I could return to the old Tenacious by going from -1x3 to +0x2. I guess I could also drop my AoE powers for something else.

Two questions. One, if endurance can be mitigated with all that, then why can't health. Two, are we talking about the same set? Energy Manipulation does not have an auto-hit endurance recovery power. It has Conserve Power, yes, but that really doesn't do terribly much overall.

I'm not sure where I was going with that.


And you do? So you're saying that Thunder Strike, the power which has a low chance for AoE knockback and even lower for AoE stun, should blip on the radar of mitigation? If you count that, you might as well count the stun chance in Thunder Kick, and I simply wouldn't. It's not a question of what I use it as, it's a question of what it's useful for, and mitigation is really not something that it's useful for. Lightning Clap, yes. That I agree on. Reliable stun, large area of effect, reliable knockback. But Thunder Strike? You might as well call Power Bolt mitigation. And it really isn't.

Hmm... Emphasising words at random. I'm pretty good at this game.

I DIDN'T crank up my difficulty. I REDUCED it. I'm playing at -1, and already people are insulting me for being TOO WEAK. In fact, my difficulty is -1x3. What would you suggest I make it? -1x1? I'm not facing bosses, most of the stuff I face is one level below me and it makes for good use of AoE powers that usually went unused on the old Tenacious difficulty, which spawned much deadlier situations, by the way.

Please don't mix up enemy numbers with enemy level. I never said I increased enemy level. In fact, I'm pretty confident I spoke against increasing enemy level somewhere in this thread.

Actually, I'm serious here. What difficulty should I be playing at? Tell me so I can try it and we can avoid insulting my intelligence in the future.

Maybe we're operating on a different time scale here. How much time do you tend to devote to laying down trip mines? Or do you toe-bomb with them?

I'm not sure that's quite true on the Banished Pantheon, or indeed the factions. We know for a fact that there is at least one other major, named god - Lughebu, the elder god of the Banished Pantheon cultists - who looks like he's at least on the same level as Tielekku. The reason he and his pantheon of gods were banished had nothing to do with their practices regarding humans and all to do with their practices regarding the other gods - namely that they consumed their fellow gods to feed themselves and become stronger.

That's actually explained either in the Scroll of Tielekku arc or possibly in the Wheel of Destruction arc. I'm not sure. Basically, though, the Lughebu incident seems to have taken place long before gods started bickering about what to do with humans, which in turn was caused by humans being taught magic.

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As far as Ermeeth is concerned, are you sure Hequat is actually in charge of persecuting him? What sources are you drawing on here?